Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please submit the good news—or the bad—from your shop, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
Cleveland Clinic
Rohit Chandra is being tapped as the new chief digital officer for Cleveland Clinic, effective Feb. 14.
Chandra’s 25-plus years of industry experience include a slew of digital and engineering leadership across well-known tech companies.
Notably, he spent 13 years at Yahoo helping to build search and advertising products, followed by work integrating new acquisitions as the senior vice president of search and advertising at Verizon Media. He most recently served as vice president of engineering at consumer services tech startup Sunshine Products.
Chandra is slated to accelerate Cleveland Clinic’s push into digital. The system’s executives said that the new hire’s “fresh perspective will benefit our patients, caregivers and organization” as he taps artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data to overhaul care access and patient experiences.
Cigna
Charles Berg was named as the president of Cigna’s U.S. Government Business, reporting to CEO David Cordani.
He previously served as executive chair of DaVita Medical Group, which was acquired by Optum, as well as executive chairman at WellCare Health Plans, now a part of Centene Corporation.
He has also held an executive role at UnitedHealth Group and was on the board at multiple companies including CareCentrix and Talkspace.
He joins the payer ready to spearhead geographic expansion into the Medicare Advantage, individual and family plan markets. Cigna has recently set aggressive double-digit growth targets in what has lately proven to be a hot MA market.
Big Health
Gabriela Perez is stepping on board with digital therapeutic maker Big Health to serve as chief commercial officer, the company announced Thursday.
Perez comes fresh off a stint at digital women and family health company Ovia Health. As executive vice president and general manager, she helped guide the company to triple-digit year-over-year revenue growth before it was acquired by Labcorp last summer, according to the announcement.
She kicked off her two decades in the healthcare technology services space as part of the founding team of Best Doctors, a telehealth second opinions company that was folded into Teladoc Health in 2017.
With fresh funding at its back, Big Health is looking to expand upon its products for insomnia and anxiety with commercial growth and a goal of six new digital therapeutics by 2024.
Perez will support that push by overseeing the company’s global commercial growth and strategy, which includes sales, client management, strategic partnerships and new markets.
LifePoint Health
Jessica Beegle is stepping into LifePoint Health’s senior leadership team via the newly created role of senior vice president and chief innovation officer.
Beegle enters the provider organization from a two-year post at Walgreens Boots Alliance, where she was the vice president and general manager of commercialization for its Walgreens Health business unit.
Preceding that were four years guiding consumer health projects at Google, three years kicking off Amazon Web Services’ Healthcare and Life Science business and four years growing GE’s health strategy. She is also an active adviser and board member for health technology companies including Science 37 and Arterys.
Beegle’s time at LifePoint will be spent accelerating the company’s growth and offering strategic direction to innovation efforts focused on improving quality, access and patient outcomes. She’ll also be lending a hand to LifePoint Forward, the organization’s enterprise strategy for innovation, and the 25m Health startup incubator jointly run with venture studio 25madision.
> Kaiser Permanente appointed Michelle Gaskill-Hames as senior vice president/chief operating officer and chief strategy, growth and experience officer for its Southern California and Hawaii markets.
> Kindbody President Annbeth Eschbach has been promoted to CEO of corporate, with founder and former CEO Gina Bartasi staying on as chairwoman of the board. Kindbody’s acquisition of Vios Fertility Institute has also brought Angeline Beltsos, M.D., to the startup as CEO of clinical.
> Detroit Medical Center named Brittany Lavis as group CEO of the system and Tenet Healthcare’s broader Detroit market. She had been serving in the position in an interim capacity since October.
> Suki AI, a healthcare voice technology company, appointed Eric Grosse as its first president.
> HCA Healthcare appointed Alejandro Romero as CEO of Poinciana Medical Center in its North Florida Division, effective March 7.
> Availity, a health information network, tapped Nathan von Colditz as chief strategy officer.
> Kaia Health, a musculoskeletal digital therapeutics company, has brought on Beth Jacobson as general counsel.
> Kalderos, a drug discount management platform maker, named Brent Dover as CEO.
> Solera Health, a digital health benefits network, added Jennifer Young as chief revenue officer and Jody Spusta as chief customer officer.
> Capital Rx, a digital pharmacy platform, hired Angela Jones, M.D., as medical director.
> Nox Health, a sleep health technology company, brought on Victoria Noble as chief marketing officer, Maureen Connolly as senior vice president of content and Larisa Thomas as vice president of security.
> Nava Benefits named Erin Chisdak as a partner.
> COTA, a real-world oncology data and analytics company, announced Paige Whitney as senior vice president of life sciences.
> Adventist Health announced that Chief Financial Officer Todd Hofheins will now serve as chief operating officer while Chief Business and People Officer John Beaman will take up Hofhein’s old position. Additionally, President and Chief Strategy Officer Bill Wing will be stepping down.
> Evidation Health, a health behavior data analytics company, brought on IBM and Nike exec Raymond Cosey as chief financial officer.
> CarolinaEast Health System President and CEO Ray Leggett is reportedly retiring after leading the organization for 13 years.
> Pager, a care navigation and collaboration platform, named five new members of its leadership team: Simon C. Mathews, M.D., as chief medical officer; Max Anfilofyev as vice president of product; Bulent Ugurlu as vice president of engineering; Allison Thomas as vice president of partner solutions; and Joseph Martinez as vice president of virtual care.
> Crozer Health, a four-hospital system in Pennsylvania, has reportedly replaced CEO Peter Adamo with Kevin Spiegel.
> Icario, a healthcare engagement and activation platform, added former Walmart Health executive Marcus Osborne to its Medicaid Advisory Council.
> Cognivue, a computerized cognitive function test maker, hired Jason Agran, M.D., as chief medical officer and senior vice president, effective Feb. 7.
> Eisenhower Health named Ken Buechele as vice president and chief information officer.
> The Department of Health and Human Services named Liz Smalley as its newest press secretary.
> The PhRMA Foundation appointed Takeda’s Andrew Plump, M.D., as chairman of the foundation and UCB’s Iris Loew-Friedrich as treasurer.